Comfort Ye My People

I have just spent the last few days in bed with a cold and fever that made me miserable. Coughing, sneezing, shivering, and aching all over got me down. Here on day seven, I still have a lingering cough, and my stamina isn’t what it should be, but at least I don’t hurt everywhere. If it sounds like I am whining, I am. If you ask my wife, she will confirm that I have been whining for the whole week.

A couple of days ago, I read about the Apostle Paul’s trials and afflictions during his missionary journeys. You probably know the ones I am talking about – the ones he called “light and momentary.” My immediate response to myself was, “MAN UP, wuss!” The fever may have left me feeling like I had been stoned and left for dead, but Paul actually was stoned to death (they thought), among other physical and verbal insults to his person. If he could call his light and momentary, mine were insignificant by comparison.

Paul puts a positive spin on his troubles by telling the Corinthians that “Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in all affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” Five times he uses “comfort” to explain what God has done so that we can imitate His comfort towards others. It’s my turn. My wife caught the bug I brought home (Isn’t that always the way?). Now I get to take Paul’s advice. (Pardon me. I have to get my wife another dose of Emergen-C.)

I can also think of a couple family issues I have had to suffer that helped me to comfort friends when they had problems with kin. It is good to have someone to come alongside and bolster your strength so that you can find a place of forgiveness that allows healing to begin. Had I not suffered indignity and found that God’s grace could bring me back to loving forgiveness, I think my advice to my friend would ring hollow. “Been there; done that” is the only qualification you need to offer genuine comfort.

This got me thinking about the level of comfort we take for granted in America today. Got a headache? Take a Tylenol. Got a stomachache? Take a Pepto. Got a muscle ache? Take some ibuprofen. Got a heart ache (the emotional kind – not the cardiac kind)? Take an antidepressant. We don’t want to put up with the tiniest discomfort; we want instant relief. We want comfort. That thought led me to the well-known passage in Isaiah, “Comfort ye, my people.” I realized that God's offer through Isaiah was not a Tylenol or a Band-Aid type of comfort. It was more along the lines of “My Servant is going to die, but He will rise from the dead on schedule.” Therefore, take comfort.

In other words, God did not want Isaiah to promise a bed of roses. Actually, He promised a bed of thorns, but His balm in Gilead would salve their wounds at the proper time. This was the conclusion Paul came to when faced with a “thorn in the flesh… from Satan.” He could glory in his discomfort because he knew where his ultimate comfort was coming from. That attitude also put credit where credit is due. He said, “Therefore I delight in weaknesses… for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”

I am happy to have returned to the state of ridiculous comfort I am blessed with – what most of us in this country are blessed with. But I am reminded that discomfort is not necessarily a bad thing. I have written before that God is more concerned with our character than our comfort. If he allows discomfort, it is likely because He is molding our character into the perfect likeness of Christ. That’s what I want, whether it’s comfortable or not. Can you feel me?

Related Posts: Crown of Thorns;  Friendship With the World; The Country Club Church

When in Rome, Do What the Bereans Do

I saw a Bible tie-in today I hadn’t noticed before. When studying the Scripture, it is interesting to know what Moses or Jesus or Paul did, but it is more valuable to know how their actions tie into our present lives as believers. When I read through Acts seventeen this morning, I noticed that the unbelieving Jews in Thessalonica used the Roman law to accuse Paul. In verses seven and thirteen, they said Paul was teaching what was contrary to the decrees of Caesar.

It is ironic that the Jews would use that approach since God’s first commandment was to have no other gods before Him. That would seem to put them in a position contrary to the decrees of Caesar as well. It is true that there were times in Roman/Jewish relations that Rome allowed the Jews to practice their religion, but it is disingenuous to try to use the Roman law to indict someone with whom they disagreed. The Jews in Corinth tried the same tactic, and the authority there saw through their hypocrisy and summarily dismissed them.

Here's the tie-in. There is a cult of secular humanism in America that is trying to use the law to squelch Christian beliefs and practices. Sometimes they twist an existing law to serve their purpose. They did this years ago when they banned Bible reading and prayer in public schools. They claimed such activities violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment. Ironically, their actions violated the free expression clause of the same Amendment. At our country’s beginning, the freedom to practice one’s religion in public or in private was one of the pillars of the Founding Fathers' beliefs. They were rebelling against the state sponsored religions in the countries many of them had fled. Allowing free expression is not the same as establishing a state religion.

When the secular humanists cannot use an existing law to promote their agenda, they write new ones. Much of the cancel culture we are forced to live under today is based on regulations that were invented to protect imaginary victims – victims who are practicing things that the Scripture forbids. For example, same sex marriage, transgenderism, and all sorts of sexual perversion is now protected by law. Worse, these things are being promoted in popular media and in the public schools at ridiculously young ages.

Sadly, secular humanists are not the only people using their brand of religion to promote an unbiblical agenda. Entire denominations of formerly orthodox Christians have come under the spell of the secular humanist teachings. They have chosen to abandon Scripture and ordain homosexual ministers and bless same sex marriages. Individuals from these apostate churches openly support politicians who lobby for free access to abortion and attack conservatives who attempt to limit or eliminate it.

Unbelievers everywhere are dictating what Christians can and cannot do by twisting or enacting laws that support their views. The media is full of stories of Christians being dragged to court just like the Jews did to Paul. Sometimes we get a judge who, like the proconsul in Athens, sees through their schemes. More often, Christians are forbidden to practice biblical behavior because of some new “offended” class of citizens. This is especially egregious when those who call themselves Christians support that kind of travesty.

We will find ourselves in disobedience to the Word if when in Rome we do as the Romans do. We need to adopt the stance of the Bereans in Acts 17. They listened to Paul, and despite the accusations of the unbelieving Jews, they searched the Scriptures to see what was true. When the Islamic radicals attacked in 2001, many Christians wondered if it was an act of judgment by God. I wondered similarly when I wrote “Today’s Chaldean Chastisement” about the COVID 19 pandemic. At the very least, we must keep our own behavior in line with Scripture. Whenever possible, I believe we do our fellow citizens a favor by attempting to stay true to the principles on which our country was founded. Remember: everyone in Judah suffered when God exiled them to Babylon. We could use a few people like Moses’ friend Phinehas. If we keep acting like Romans instead of Bereans, we will not escape the potential judgment that may be coming sooner rather than later.

Related posts: Today’s Chaldean Chastisement; The Winnowing Fork of God; Paging Phinehas Eleazar

Calvinist or Arminian

I have written previously about the controversy between Calvinists and Arminians. This month is the 405^th anniversary of the Synod of Dort which settled the controversy in the Netherlands: the Arminians were evicted from their pulpits. This explains why the Dutch Reformed Church is staunchly Calvinist as well as the many other denominations that sprang from the same Reformation soil. Most Baptist-type churches are Calvinist to varying degrees. Methodists, Wesleyans, Nazarenes, and Seventh-day Adventists are Arminian.

The controversy which takes its name from the Swiss reformer, John Calvin, and the Dutch theologian, Jacob Arminius, is actually centuries older than these men. Augustine debated with Pelagius over much the same subject in the Fifth century. As I see it, the central issue of the dispute is whether humans can come to faith and therefore salvation on their own, or whether God must do something first to draw them to Himself. This leads to the question of whether people can come to faith but later fall away and lose their salvation. This question is what most people today think of as the Calvinist/Arminian debate.

In “Understanding the TULIP Doctrine,” I briefly explained Calvinism. “The five basic tenets of Calvinism have long been summarized as the TULIP doctrines, an acronym taken from the major tenets: total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of saints. There are those who consider themselves “five-point” Calvinists, meaning they hold firmly to each of the TULIP principles. Others pick and choose among the tenets of Calvinism to construct their own brand.” As I said, perseverance of the saints, commonly known as “once saved, always saved,” is the item over which most people debate. Unconditional election also bothers some people; I discussed this aspect of Calvinism in some depth in “Election: God’s Choice.”

It was election that bothered Arminius. It is possible to read Calvin and come away thinking God predestines some people to salvation and some to condemnation. Arminius couldn’t stomach that because he felt it made God the author of sin – an obvious contradiction to Scripture. There are those who do believe in what is called double predestination today and would have Arminius turning over in his grave. Calvin’s teachings have been shaded and shifted over the centuries since he lived making the term “Calvinism” almost irrelevant. You need to dig into what people mean by the label to know what they really believe.

If I haven’t bored you into scrolling on yet (bless your heart), I am going to explain the value of this history lesson – WHAMM. I believe with all my heart that there will be Calvinists and Arminians in Heaven. Like all of us who make it to our eternal home with God, there will be some adjustments and corrections to our theology. Perhaps some of the tears God will wipe away will be from people discovering that, sadly, they were wrong all their lives about some point of theology. The debate I have described that began in the early centuries of the church and continues today is not one that will keep anyone out of Heaven in my opinion. There are radicals in both camps who may disagree with me on that, but I think I have the truth of Scripture on my side.

The reason I plodded through all this is to make a point we all need to understand: Jesus didn’t say the world would know we are His because of our brilliant doctrine; He said our love for one another (and our neighbors) would show that we belong to Christ. I made the point in Lead a Horse to Water that Christians bickering over what seem to unbelievers to be arcane theological issues might be one of the biggest hinderances to faith. It also causes some to doubt our claim that the Word of God is true and infallible. When we air our differences publicly, it appears to outsiders that we are denying that claim.

As I have written previously, sometimes fellow believers must agree to disagree. The final disposition of that agreement must be to continue to behave in a loving manner toward those with whom we disagree. I should clarify this by saying that I am not talking about compromising on essentials. I will firmly disagree with anyone who says God is not the sovereign creator or Jesus is not the co-equal, co-eternal God/Son/Savior, or that the Word of God is not absolute truth, etc. Some things are beyond debate and are essential and necessary to a proper understanding of God.

If you have read this far, you may be asking what I believe. Since I covered that in “Understanding the TULIP Doctrine,” I will leave it to my readers to seek an answer there. I will say this much: I will strive to love all people whether I agree with them or not. As I said in Loving Biblically. “Christian, biblical love must abound in knowledge and discernment if we aim to be sincere and blameless. To know how God loves, we have to dig deeply into the Bible and ferret out the true measure of divine love; it is a mix of caring, compassion and judgment. The most difficult thing to grasp is that God’s love involves discernment – judgment.” I am not God; I do not get to condemn (judge) people. However, if I am sincere in my faith, I must use discernment. That may mean I will disagree with some people. I will still love them – biblically – Calvinists or Arminians.

Related Posts: Election: God’s Choice; Disagree Agreeably; Understanding the TULIP Doctrine; Loving Biblically

Imitation of Christ

One of Christianity’s best-known thinkers and writers is read around the world, yet he never traveled far from his adoptive home in the Netherlands. Thomas Van Kempen, better known as Thomas `a Kempis, lived and died a few years before the Reformation which had strong supporters in his birthplace. He was a life-long member of a group called the Brethren of the Common Life, an early attempt to reform the Roman church. According to one source, “They believed that Christianity should be practiced not only in formal religious settings, but also in everyday life, and they sought to promote a practical spirituality that emphasized personal piety and devotion.”

That sounds strikingly similar to the teachings of the New Testament, one of Thomas’ most frequently quoted sources. Unlike many of his contemporaries in scholarship, he looked for wisdom from Scripture rather than the teachings of the Roman church leadership. Needless to say, that did not sit well with those in authority. Thomas was never granted sainthood by the Catholic Church, but they did erect a monument dedicated to his memory in Zwolle where he spent most of his adult life. That monument was placed there on this day, November 11, 1897, over 400 years after he died. Hmm.

Thomas once said, “"If thou wilt receive profit, read with humility, simplicity, and faith, and seek not at any time the fame of being learned." He balanced that with this, "At the Day of Judgement we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done." (The Imitation of Christ, Book I, ch. 3) There is a clear echo here of James 1:25. “But the one who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues to do it, not being a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts, this one will be blessed.” That is “practical spirituality.” That is living the way Jesus instructed in His last words before the crucifixion: “You are my friends if you do what I command you…. These things I command you: that you love one another.”

Enough history. Why does any of this matter beyond remembering a worthy follower of Christ? It is because Solomon’s wisdom is being proven true every day. “There is nothing new under the sun.” What Solomon saw in Old Testament Israel, and Thomas `a Kempis saw over six hundred years ago is still going on today. There are millions of people in America who claim to be Christians, yet the only thing they do differently than their worldly friends is attend church services – sometimes. According to one poll, people who attend church two or three times a year still consider themselves to be “regular attenders.” I am not suggesting that church attendance is the truest measure of one’s faith, but it surely is one measure.

I have often said that if going to church makes you a Christian, then going to the garage makes you a car. We need to revive the spirit of Thomas `a Kempis and the Brethren of the Common Life. Among believers, it should be “common life” to “Live Out Loud” as Merideth Andrews sings. (Song lyrics here.) Silent Christians, secret Christians are not true Christians. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples—if you have love for one another,” Jesus said. It is clear from the rest of the New Testament teaching that the love Jesus commanded was no secret. Hear the word of John: “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”

If we truly believe that Jesus is our only hope, then that belief, that faith must show itself in works. James again: “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” James is also the one who said that it is not enough to profess faith in Christ; the demons do that. True faith shows itself in its works. It’s not that the works save us: “not from works so that no one can boast.” However, the Bible is clear: saving faith is testified to by works.

Some people asked Jesus about the works that could save them. His answer: “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” Couple that with His statement that ^“When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.” The love we have for Jesus, the testimony to our faith in Him demands obedience. If you believe in Him, you will do what He commands. This is the imitation of Christ that Paul spoke of and which Thomas `a Kempis championed. Go thou and do likewise.

Related Posts: Necessary Obedience; The Patience of God; The Church Cannot Save the Lost

Chasing the Almighty Dollar

The Gospels tell the story of rich young ruler who came to Jesus for advice. (Matthew 19; Mark 10; Luke 18). “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” he asked. Of course, Jesus knew the heart of the man, but anyone listening carefully might have detected a wrong motive. The young man used a word from the legal jargon of the day: inherit (κληρονομέω). The word refers to the legal right of someone to inherit their share. He might as well have asked Jesus, “How can I get what’s coming to me?”

When Jesus gave the young man a simple answer, “Obey the commandments,” the response was perhaps a little arrogant: “I have done that.” To that Jesus replied with a scalpel that cut to the man’s heart problem. “Go and sell all you have and give to the poor.” We know the end of that exchange; the man left disappointed “for he was one who owned much property.” As the rich young man left, Jesus turned to His followers and said, “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!”

The disciples were “amazed” at Jesus’ words. Their amazement revealed their faulty conception of God’s economy of blessing. The Jews of Jesus day believed that a person’s wealth represented blessing by God. Jesus corrected their misunderstanding by saying, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” He had just told them, “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” Adults in general would have difficulty stirring up the faith a child would have naturally. Rich adults have an even harder time because they have all their needs met, and abandoning their reliance on their wealth is hard. Hence Jesus’ analogy of the camel passing through the eye of a needle.

I notice that Jesus did not say it was impossible for a rich person to enter the Kingdom – just “hard.” Luke records the incident with Zacchaeus almost immediately after the tale of the rich young ruler. Perhaps the rich young ruler was from Jericho, and he went there after his encounter with Jesus. Maybe he shared his tale with his rich friend Zacchaeus. That might explain why Zacchaeus was so interested in seeing Jesus for himself. It might also explain why the rich tax collector immediately offered to give away his riches. This proves what Jesus said to his disciples on the heels of the rich young ruler’s disappointing behavior: “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” Zacchaeus heard God; the rich young ruler did not.

This helps to explain why the gospel is not being widely accepted in Western society. The gospel, the good news is that people can be saved from a disastrous future. Being comfortable and confident in their material prosperity, few people recognize any need to be saved. Couple this with the pervading opinion that humans are the highest order of being – there is no “higher power” – and you have a recipe for unconcerned unbelief. Compounding this attitude is the lack of belief in absolute truth; truth is whatever one wants to believe is true. The Christian claim to know the truth rings as hollow as the claim that people need to be saved.

My wife and I worked for several years in a ministry that served recovering addicts and persons returning to society after years of incarceration. Many of those individuals recognized the deep need in their lives and found satisfaction in the provision Jesus promised. One of the most compelling aspects of the gospel to these people was the unconditional love represented in the Cross of Christ. Many of them had never known what real love is, and the realization that God had sent His Son to die for their sin was extremely compelling. We saw lives changed, families reunited, new careers begun, and needs met in almost miraculous ways. Those folks came to realize that God loved them, and the love of the church community made it real to them.

 The great challenge for evangelism in a prosperous country like America is to identify needs that are not being met and show how the gospel meets those needs. The best way to do that is found in the biblical command to love God and love your neighbor. You don’t have to be an addict or a felon to need love and acceptance. Even the rich can feel empty and without purpose as evidenced by the fact that many wealthy people have admitted that money has not bought them happiness. Solomon said that every person senses that something is missing. Those of us who hear God know what that missing thing is. Our job is to help people see what they are missing. We need to convince people to stop chasing the dollar and to go after what they really need.

Related Posts: Abraham’s Promises – Solomon’s Rules; Do We Really Need God

Degrees of Punishment and Reward

There is a question that lingers in the back of most Christians’ minds when they think about judgment. Those who know their Bible well know with certainty that anyone who has put their faith in Christ can count on His atoning work on the cross to pay the penalty for their sin – all of them past, present, and future. After all, all our sins were future at the cross, so it shouldn’t be difficult to imagine all of them forgiven. It shouldn’t be.

But the question still nags: am I going to have to give an account – pay in some way – for my shortcomings? The answer is yes and no. As I wrote in “Living in the Light of Eternity” and many other places, our entrance into Heaven is guaranteed by Christ’s sacrifice; nothing more needs to be done. However, if we are truly on the Heaven-bound train, our behavior does matter. Listen to Jesus’ words on the subject: “And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more."

Some scholars deny that Jesus is talking about the judgment of believers here, but the context seems to be about believers – those who knew the “master’s” will versus those who didn’t. They were all “slaves” of the master; the only difference is some knew his will and some did not. This fits with the idea Jesus expressed when He said, “But I tell you that every worthless word that they speak, people will give an account for it on the day of judgment! For by your words you will be vindicated, and by your words you will be condemned.” The “worthless” words Jesus referred to are words that serve no heavenly purpose. These are not necessarily evil in themselves; they just do nothing to advance the cause of Christ.

Paul said something similar to the Romans: “each of us will give an account concerning himself.” The context in Romans was about judging others. This echoes Jesus’ criticism about ignoring the log in your own eye while judging another for the speck in his eye. That remark by Jesus was made during the Sermon on the Mount which is presumably about how to live as kingdom citizens – as God’s people. He prefaced that statement by saying, “by what measure you measure out, it will be measured out to you.” Even kingdom citizens will face a type of judgment.

Paul warned the Corinthians that their fleshly behavior – non-spiritual behavior – would have consequences on the day of judgment. He likened unspiritual works to wood, hay, and stubble which would be burned up at the judgment, whereas works motivated by the Spirit would be like gold, silver and precious stones surviving the fires of judgment to be presented to the Lord. He does confirm that the unspiritual works don’t exclude believers from an eternity with God, but He suggests that those guilty of the same will enter Heaven smelling like their coattails were burned.

I am inching out on a limb here, but I think there may be a hint of the idea of a final judgment of believers in the book of Revelation. John records that everyone who makes it to the new Jerusalem will have their tears wiped away because mourning, wailing, and pain will have passed away. Those who believe the arrival in the New Jerusalem is a metaphor for Heaven might ask why there would be tears to be wiped away. I have heard it suggested that the tears are a result of believers’ discovery of all that they might have done for the Master but didn’t. Some have also said they are tears of joy – joy that comes from finally understanding what grace really means: I made it in spite of all I have done or didn’t do.

That is speculation, but the idea that Jesus’ call involves a measure of obedience is not. “If you love me,” He said, “Keep my commandments.” Or again, from the Sermon on the Mount: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and expel demons in your name, and perform many miracles in your name?’ And then I will say to them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!’”

For those who never place their faith in Jesus, the consequence of their final judgment will be worse than the worst you can imagine. Degrees of worst-ness are irrelevant. For believers, the blessedness of spending eternity in God’s presence cannot be imagined. As Paul said, “That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.’”

Even if there are degrees of reward comparable to the degrees of punishment as Scripture seems to imply, I am with David when he said, “a day in thy courts is better than a thousand [elsewhere].” The bottom line is that I am not working for a reward; I am working to please my Lord. Because I love Him above all else, I obey His commands. If there is a reward for doing that, I think I will be among the crowd pictured in Revelation and throw them at my Savior’s feet to honor Him who saved me. It never was about me anyway.

Related Posts: Necessary Obedience; Blessings of Obedience; Do What You Can Do

Little Becomes Much

The record of the feeding of the five thousand has several interesting lessons hidden in it. On the surface this may simply be a lesson highlighting Jesus’ compassion for hungry people and His willingness to perform a miracle to feed them. Although Jesus often told the beneficiaries of His miracles not to share, this may have been one time when He wanted to make a declaration. Beyond that, many people have expressed curiosity about the meaning of the leftover baskets of food. It would seem to be more than coincidence that there were twelve baskets left over on one occasion and seven on another; these are two often repeated numbers that have biblical significance, but what they mean here is uncertain.

The fact that this is the only miracle of Jesus that is recorded by all four gospel writers leads me to think it must be of special significance. (Mathew 14; Mark 6; Luke 9; John 6) The lesson that struck me when I last read it was how much Jesus could make of a little. All four evangelists record that there were five loaves of bread and two fishes. This would have been enough for a small family – perhaps just the boy and his parents. I’m reminded of the Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared. Apparently, this young lad’s family was the only one to think they might get hungry. Maybe they were so interested in what the popular rabbi had to say that they didn’t want to miss anything while they went to dinner.

Someone has asked an interesting question: what if the boy’s parents had refused to give up their meager meal? They didn’t. They may have been among those who had already put their faith in the man from Nazareth. It is conceivable that they had witnessed His first miracle – water into wine – at the wedding in Cana which was only a few miles down the road. For whatever reason, they were willing to put their provisions in the Master’s hands. Just like the steward and the wedding, they were amazed at what happened when Jesus took over.

It's like the song “Ordinary People” says: “Little becomes much as you place it in the Master’s hand.” The twelve Jesus called especially had given Him everything they had, although it wasn’t much since most were just common laborers. Regardless of their net worth, they gave Jesus their very lives to follow Him for the three short years of His earthly ministry. When the Master called the fishermen, He promised to make them fishers of men. I doubt they fully understood what that meant at the time, but I am convinced that Jesus wasn’t choosing them for their talents as fishermen or their entrepreneurial skills.

From our vantage point centuries down the trail, we know they were chosen for who they were, not what they could bring to the table. Just consider Peter, James, and John, Jesus’ inner circle. Peter denied knowing Jesus on the night of His betrayal but came back strong as a leader in the Jerusalem church. James was also a leader in Jerusalem, and he became the first martyr for Christ. John outlived all his peers as far as we know and survived being boiled in oil and exile to go on to write the Book of Revelation, one of the most significant books of the New Testament.

It may sound trite, but I would say we are not chosen by Christ because we are great, but we are great because we are chosen. I am writing this in my seventy-third year of life, most of which was spent in some kind of Christian ministry vocationally or otherwise. I will admit with a touch of disappointment that I have not achieved the “greatness” I might have longed for in my youth. Nothing I have done will put me in the “Who’s Who” of Christians in my generation. I have come to terms with that. I’ll wager the little guy who surrendered his lunch to Jesus had no idea he would be remembered to the end of the age. He just did what little he could do at the moment, and Jesus made the moment great.

I love the song Ray Boltz sang many years ago called “Thank You.” The lyrics recall how he put money in a collection plate or taught Sunday School with no idea how his actions affected others. Then, when Ray gets to Heaven, a long line of people come up to him thanking him for what little he gave. There it is. I may never know which of my dollars in the plate brought someone to Christ. I may never know which of my hundreds of high school students were encouraged by my witness. I may never know how many of the thousands of readers of this blog have been inspired to make significant contributions to the cause of Christ. Maybe I’ll be standing next to Ray one day amazed at what has happened. But even if I don’t get that confirmation, I will keep giving what little I have knowing that little becomes much when you place it in the Master’s hand. I hope to meet the little guy who shared his lunch too.

Related posts: Living in the Light of Eternity; For God’s Sake; What’s the Deal With Ninev
eh?; Who Needs God?